332 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 19, 



cessive rains sometimes blast the hopes of 

 the apiarist. In this locality (N. W. 

 Penn.), In the summer of 1871, during the 

 blooming of white clover in June, the 

 weather was cold, dry and windy. But 

 little honey was secured in the flowers 

 under such circumstances, and the entire 

 summer proved alike honeyless, and in 

 early autumn 1 reduced my apiary from 

 130 to 50 colonies, in order to put them on 

 a safe winter footing. A few were doubled, 

 but I killed and buried bushels of 

 bees, saving their combs clean and nice 

 for further use. A similar state of things 

 has occured 3 or 4 times in my experience 

 of 35 years, but let us see how other peo- 

 ple are. sometimes effected in seasons of 

 frost and drouth. I have known dairy- 

 men to sell good cows at So.OOeach, on ac- 

 count of the prospective scarcity of hay. 

 It will be readily seen that farmers suffer 

 even heavier losses than the bee-keeper 

 by unfavorable seasons. 



Any person possessed of conscientious 

 qualms against the killing of one, or many 

 colonies of bees in autumns or unpropi- 

 tious honey seasons, had better never en- 

 gage in bee-keeping as a business. The 

 keeping or killing must be altogether a 

 matter of dollars and cents. If in 100 col- 

 onies in the fall, there be only sufficient 

 stores for the safe wintering of 50, it is a 

 question which will pay better, reduce the 

 Dumber to 50, or purchase food for 100. It 

 will depend much on circumstances, and 

 the market value of the colonies in the 

 spring. My own experience leads me to 

 the belief that in a large majority of cases, 

 it pays best to reduce the number of colo- 

 nies, the hives and nice clean combs be- 

 ing being worth in the spring, nearly as 

 much in the hands of the skilled apiarist, 

 as colonies will sell for. The heavy losses 

 sustained last winter are discouraging, it 

 is true. It is also true that such losses 

 are more speedily regained than with any 

 other stock. While absolute safety in the 

 possession of property is not the inheri- 

 tance of man, the bee-keeper may feel 

 quite as secure as those engaged in any 

 other industrial pursuit. 



Youngsville, Pa. 



T. G. Newman being called for, ad- 

 dressed the Convention as follows, on 

 the 



Stepping-Stones toward Perfection. 



This subject is one of immense magni- 

 tude, and I must content myself with the 

 merest outline of thought, allowing those 

 present to rill out the hgure, and dress it 

 up to suit their fancy. 



Scientific apiculture in its fullness and 

 perfection stands out to view as a great 

 mountain, whose sides apparently forbade 

 the approach of man, but whose top pre- 

 sented tantalizing to view the beauty of 

 perfection, the sublimity of the complete 

 control of the honey bee, and the full de- 

 velopment of scientific management of the 

 apiary— a "land flowing with milk and 

 honey," furnishing God-given sweetness 

 to all the nations of the world as a staple 

 product, with a commercial value like 

 butter, cheese, and sugar. 



How to ascend this mountain and plant 

 our feet upon its glorious summit is the 

 all-important question. Talk not to me 

 of impossibilities— my faith in the ulti- 

 mate triumph of scientific apiculture is 

 progressive ; it 



" Laughs at impossibilities, 

 And cries— It sliall be done." 



When Frederick Winslow proposed, less 

 than 100 years ago to light London with 

 gas, James Watt, Walter Scott and other 

 great men laughed at the idea, but see to- 

 day the wonderful illumination of ten 

 thousand times ten thousand cities with 

 gas! 



When Fulton proposed to run a steam 

 boat up the Hudson River, men scoffed at 

 the idea, but the millions of steam boat 

 palaces and drawing-room cars drawn by 

 ponderous engines over land and ocean, 

 demonstrates grand accomplishments for 

 steam. 



The electric light, so much ridiculed for 

 years, now rivals the sun, and pales the 

 very moon and stars with its brilliance ! 



In the misty ages of the past, the grand 

 "mount of transfiguration " we have just 

 caught a glimpse of, was enveloped in 

 clouds and thick darkness ; the ancients 

 saw apiculture only in its crude state ; 

 " this treasure they had in earthern ves- 

 sels" in the time of Abraham and Samson. 

 Greek and Roman poets and sages caught 

 only a glimpse of the glorious fruition, 

 and then the world went into the depths 

 of mire. Ignorance and superstition 

 reigned supreme, until the days of Huber, 

 Bevan, Dzierzon and Berlepsch, who 

 cleared away much of the rubbish around 

 the base of the mountain— laying bare the 

 rock on which to build the mighty stair- 

 way leading to its glorious summit. 



Thereon was built the first step by that 

 intellectual giant whose name every true 

 American honors— the Rev. L. L. Langs- 

 troth. The step consisted in adapting the 

 movable-comb principle to his bee hive, 



revealing the "mysteries" therein and 

 revolutionizing old theories. 



Then, with great rapidity, step after 

 step was built. In order to fully record 

 this great rival to "Jacob's ladder," let us 

 number and describe each step, so that 

 the "generations yet unborn" may treas- 

 ure up in history every step in the grand 

 stairway, reared by the men of our days 

 by indomitable energy and inventive ge- 

 nius. 



Step No. 2 consisted in the multiplica- 

 tion of bee books and bee papers, scatter- 

 ing information like autumn leaves, 

 awakening scientific investigation and in- 

 viting inventions to aid in the scientific 

 management of the apiary. 



Step No. 3 called the bee lovers together 

 in conventions, developing the best 

 thoughts, and the most advanced ideas of 

 those devoted to this industry. 



Step No. 4 was the importation of Ital- 

 ian bees, placing the possibilities of im- 

 provement within our grasp. 



Step No. 5 showed us how to Italianize 

 our apiaries, rear and ship the new bees, 

 and thus spread them all over the conti- 

 nent. 



Step No. 6 taught the increase of colo- 

 nies by division, instead of swarming. 



Step No. 7 brought to our astonished 

 view the possibilities of making a staple 

 article of honey, giving us the honey ex- 

 tractor by which to obtain the honey by 

 centrifigal force. 



Step No. 8 gave us the means of uncap- 

 ping the combs before extracting the 

 honey, and saving them for future use by 

 the aid of an uncapping knife. 



Step No. 9 reassured our nerves by giv- 

 ing us a bellows-smoker, with which to 

 control the bees during our manipulation 

 of them, without danger of being stung. 



Step No. 10 presented to our astonished 

 vision sheets of wax, afterwards corru- 

 gated and called "comb foundation," to 

 aid the bees in multiplying their numbers 

 and obtaining large yields of honey, by 

 providing room to receive the sweet nec- 

 tar in the shortest period of time, as well 

 as to control the production of drones. 



Step No. 11 gave us magnificently thin 

 comb foundation, to be used in comb 

 honey, giving it strength to endure trans- 

 portation, and aid in its production. 



Step No. 12, presented us with single 

 comb sections to facilitate the building of 

 straight combs, and add to their beauty, 

 facilitate their division, and increase their 

 market value. 



Step No. 13, showed us how to improve 

 the race of bees by constant selection and 

 experiments, breeding in the traits of 

 character desired, or breeding out the un- 

 desirable ones. 



Step No. 14 consisted in popularizing 

 the consumption of honey, and creating a 

 demand for it among the masses. 



Step No. 15, sought out a foreign outlet 

 for honey, thereby creating a valuable 

 market for all our surplus crops. 



Step No. 16, gave us many improve- 

 ments in marketing jars, cans, kegs, sec- 

 tions, crates, etc., thereby adding to the 

 value of the bee interests. 



Step No. 17, developed shows for bees 

 and honey, presented an opportunity for 

 good natured rivalry, and raised the 

 standard of the " ideal." 



Step No. 18 consisted in planting for 

 honey bloom, to give a continuous yield of 

 nectar for our bees to gather, from early in 

 the spring till late in the fall. 



Step No. 19 showed us how to make 

 honey a staple article— giving market 

 quotations, estimating the crops and regu- 

 lating the prices for it all over the country. 

 Step No. 20. This consists in the de- 

 velopment of practical plans for wintering 

 our bees. 



This is the "next progressive step"— 

 the last problem to be solved, but pro- 

 found thoughts of the wise, and the patient 

 experiments of practical men will speedily 

 accomplish it. 



From the place we occupy, we catch, 

 now and then, a glimpse of the glorious 

 fulfillment of all our expectations ! 

 " Oh! the transporting, rapturous scene. 

 That rises to our sight! 

 Sweet fields arrayed in living green, 



And rivers of delight! 

 There generous bloom in all the dales 



And mountain sides will grow, 

 There rocks and hills, and hrooks and vales 

 With milk and honey flow." 



Is there anything to discourage us in 

 our work ? No ; all looks encouraging. 

 With steady hands and iron nerves, let us 

 near the top stone in the "grand stair- 

 way," cfcmpleting our work, and giving 

 us the possession of that for which we 

 have so long wrought. And while we 

 place in proper position "the cap stone" 

 of the grand structure, let the wondering 

 and admiring people rejoice with greatest 

 joy! 



On motion, a rising vote of thanks 

 was tendered Mr. Newman for his able 

 address. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Augusta, 

 Ga., gave an interesting address on 



the different races of the honey bee, 

 and their geographical distribution. 

 On motion, the thanks of the Conven- 

 tion were tendered Dr. Brown for his 

 very able paper. [Owing to the length 

 of this treatise, we must postpone its 

 publication until next week. — Ed.] 



T. F. Bingham, Abronia, Mich., ad- 

 dressed the Convention on the sublect 

 of inventions, as follows : 



A Partial Review. 

 "Honor to whom honor is due !" 



It is well in looking back from our ad- 

 vanced standpoint of apiculture, to observe 

 wherein we have profited, and in what re- 

 spect the present American system of bee- 

 keeping differs from that of the past, and 

 to whom most indebted. 



The system 1 have denominated the 

 American, is the substitution of absolute 

 control, for the "happy-go-lucky" methods 

 previously pursued. The early writings 

 of the lamented M. Quinby, called the 

 " Mysteries of Bee-Keeping," which were 

 among the most conspicuous of the closing 

 era, may be appropriately called its closing 

 chapter; while the writings of the Rev. 

 L. L. Langstroth, and the invention of the 

 movable comb hive, may be justly called 

 the opening chapter in improved bee-cul- 

 ture, and the foundation ot the American 

 system. 



Do I assume too much in saying that 

 nearly all we have of present value rests 

 on one single corner-stone, hewn and per- 

 fected by one master hand, whose surpass- 

 ing genius, experience and practical appli- 

 cation, have shown him the master builder, 

 on whose single invention the vast present 

 and the undreamed future of American 

 apiculture rests ? 



Has not the fact come home to every 

 practical bee-keeper in this honorable 

 body, time and again, that amid the thou- 

 sand changes and struggles to improve and 

 surpass the first and original, or movable- 

 comb bee hive, not one outlived the legal 

 limit of the original Langstroth patent? 

 To illustrate, allow me here to quote a few 

 sentences from the covers of back- num- 

 bers of a leading American bee paper : 



While I earnestly try to maintain a broad " char- 

 ity for all, and malice toward none," and while I do 

 not wish to take upon myself the responsibility of 

 dictating a course for others, I feel It a duty to dis- 

 courage with all my might, both by precept and ex- 

 ample, everything in the shape of patented bee 

 hives, or patents on anything pertaining to bee- 

 culture. On the other hand, 1 shall try to encour- 

 age every one to do all in his power to advance the 

 common good of all. I do not believe the world 

 " selfish and grasping," but have much confidence 

 in the disposition of our people to pay for every- 

 thing they get, and to reward those who work for 

 them disinterestedly, when they once get a clear 

 understanding of the matter. If you have made a 

 valuable invention or discovery, give it to the peo- 

 ple, rejoicing that you have been enabled to con- 

 tribute your mite to the common good, and in 

 seeing others happy, and sooner or later you will 

 surely have your reward. Nothing that we manu- 

 facture, in the shape of hives ana implements, is 

 patented. 



I recommend the Langstroth frame for every- 

 body, and for every purpose whatever, in prefer- 

 ence to anything else, and I have pretty thoroughly 

 experimented with all shapes and sizes. There 

 may be other forms that will give just as good re- 

 sults, but I do not believe- there are any better. 

 For all general purposes. I advise the Simplicity 

 hive, holding ten of the above frames. The Sim- 

 plicity (or Improved and Simplified Langstroth 

 hive) is not patented, and never will be. 



Permit me here to ask, if the leading 

 bee-keepers of America are opposed to 

 patents ? and if so, what method they 

 have devised to encourage invention and 

 render unnecessary the methods devised 

 by Congress ? Is it of any value to bee- 

 keepers of to-day, or the bee-keepers of 

 the future, that the memory of the inven- 

 tor of the movable-comb bee hive, and the 

 honey extractor, and comb foundation, 

 should be revered and perpetuated ? Or 

 is there no duty or interest except to get 

 more honey and higher prices, and cheap 

 supplies at cheaper prices ? 



I assume, in the absence of any other 

 plan of encouragement and protection than 

 that devised by our forefathers as a just 

 tribute to worthy invention, that the Amer- 

 ican people do respect and honor not only 

 the inventors, but the inventions and the 

 legal record of them in the United States 

 Patent Office. One of the publishers of a 

 bee paper stated in his publication, that 

 " any man who did not take legal steps to 

 establish the fact of his invention, should 

 not complain because of the indifference 

 of others." Is it not to the interest of 

 every practical bee-keeper, and to the in- 

 terest of this the most national exponent 

 of American apiculture, to put itself on 

 record as the guardian and patron of valu- 

 able and original first inventions ? 



Do American bee-keepers expect too 

 much of this more than national body, in 

 presuming that it shall carefully weigh not 

 only the causes of success and failure, but 

 that it shall lift up its voice in commenda- 

 tion of every worthy and practical inven- 

 tion, while it speaks in no uncertain tones 

 its disapproval of the substantial copying, 

 without invention or improvement, of the 

 worthy inventions of others ? 



Does not every practical bee-keeper 

 know that if the public could have been 

 kept from buying worthless imitations of 

 the Langstroth or movable-comb bee hive, 

 that hundreds of thousands of dollars 

 would have been saved to innocent bee- 

 keepers, and that our most noble and 

 worthy L. L. Langstroth would not only 

 have received his well-earned honors, but 

 his just rewards ? 



President Cook paid a glowing and 

 eloquent tribute to the Rev. L. L. 

 Langstroth, the inventor of the mova- 

 ble frame hive. 



Dr. L. E. Brown, Kentucky, moved 

 that the sentiments expressed by Mr. 

 Bingham be indorsed as the views of 

 this Convention, which motion was 

 seconded. 



Dr. Parmly, D. A. Jones, Pres. Cook, 

 and many others supported the mo- 

 tion, which was carried with great 

 unanimity. 



C. E. Muth, Ohio, read the following 

 letter, which he had just received : 

 Oxford, O., Oct. 5, 1881. 



Dear Friend : — I am very sorry that 

 I could not be with you at the Con- 

 vention—but I grow worse instead of 

 better. 



In this week's American Bee 

 Journal there is a strange mistake 

 about a hive sent from Greece to Mr. 

 R. Colvin. It is a regular Berlepsch 

 hive, and contained a Grecian colony, 

 which died on the passage. Mr. Col- 

 vin did not keep bees until some years 

 after my patent issued, and this Ber- 

 lepsch hive did not reach him until 

 some time after he had imported Ital- 

 ian bees. These facts are enough to 

 show how greatly mistaken Mr. Rob- 

 inson is in this matter. 



L. L. Langstroth. 



Mrs. L. Harrison, Peoria, 111., con- 

 tributed a paper which was much ap- 

 plauded, entitled 



Suitable Employment for Women. 



Bee-keeping, although a laborous em- 

 ployment, demands no great outlay of 

 strength, at one time. It embraces the 

 performance of many little items, which 

 require skill and gentleness, more than 

 muscle. The hand of woman from nature, 

 habit and education, has acquired an ease 

 of motion, which is agreeable to the sensi- 

 bilities of bees, and her breath is seldom 

 obnoxious to their olfactories, by reason 

 of tobacco or beer. 



Women have demonstrated, that the 

 making of hives and surplus boxes is no 

 objection, as they have purchased them in 

 the flat, nailed and painted them. Tbe 

 hiving of swarms is neither more difficult 

 nor dangerous, than the washing of win- 

 dows or milking. The right time to ex- 

 tract honey, or to put on, or take off sur- 

 plus boxos, requires no more tact or skill 

 to determine, than the proper fermenta- 

 tion of bread, or the right temperature of 

 the oven required for baking. She is in 

 her allotted sphere while raising queens 

 and nursing weak colonies, or caring for 

 the honey when off the hive. 



The most powerful argument in view of 

 the suitableness of bee-keeping for women 

 is this: That it is something she can do 

 at home, and not interfere with her do- 

 mestic duties. Many women of small 

 means have young children depending 

 upon their exertions for support, and re- 

 munerative work to be performed at home, 

 brings very little in the market of to-day. 

 For instance, the making of overalls at 5 

 cents a pair, and shirts at 50 cts. per doz. 

 She is compelled to accept less pay than 

 men, for the same service performed. We 

 had a friend, chosen as principal of a 

 school on account of her efficiency, but 

 was compelled to accept lower wages than 

 her predecessor, who was a man, and dis- 

 missed for his incompetency. But we 

 have never found a dealer unscrupulous 

 enough to offer less for a pound of honey, 

 because it was produced by a woman. 



T. G. Newman, 111., expressed him- 

 self as fully in accord with the views 

 so concisely and ably expressed by 

 Mrs. Harrison. The paper was a model 

 in this respect. 



C. F. Muth, Cincinnati. Ohio, ad- 

 dressed the Convention as follows on 



Foul Brood Among Bees. 



C. Bertram, of Hanover, Germany, pub- 

 lishes the following essay in regard to dis- 

 eases of bees, heading his article "Foul 

 Brood or Chilling," and tells how foul 

 brood made its appearance in his apiary in 

 the fall, after the days begun to be cold. 

 Remembering Mr. Hubert's remedy, sali- 

 cylic acid, he mixed some of it with honey 

 and fed it, when he was surprised to see 

 many of his bees flying out and dying out- 



